Rhyne Howard named preseason SEC Player of the Year; Cats picked to finish 4th in SEC

Kentucky also checked in at No. 13 in the first AP Top 25 Poll.

By Jason Marcum@marcum89 Oct 19, 2021, 3:07pm EDT

Kentucky Wildcats senior guard Rhyne Howard has been named the SEC Preseason Player of the Year by league media. She was also named First-Team All-SEC.

In addition, Kentucky was picked to finish fourth in the SEC this season by league media, while the first AP Top 25 Poll has the Wildcats checking in at No. 13.

Howard, the only player in the nation last season to average over 20 points per game with at least 7.3 rebounds per game, 90 assists and 60 steals, averaged 20.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She hit a team-best 56 triples with 91 assists, 61 steals and 19 blocks.

The native of Cleveland (TN) played in 24 games last season with 11 coming against top-25 teams. In those games, Howard averaged 22.3 points while shooting 47.1% from the field and 39.7% from deep with 6.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

For her career, Howard has scored 1,655 points, ranking seventh in program history. She ranks second in school history in career scoring average (19.9), third in career 3s made (214) and third in career 3-point field-goal percentage (38.1%). She is also eighth in UK history in steals per game (2.301).